“…Why are you here?”

“Does it matter where I am?”

I let out a small sigh at Pamela’s response, grinning as she refuted Helena’s words.

Ashillya had left the academy to finalize matters concerning Jeffrey, Siegfried, and the nobles who supported them.

I wasn’t sure how long it would take, but everything would likely be settled when she returned.

Of course, it might not take long given Jeffrey’s undeniable crimes. Anyway, the academy remained noisy even after Ashillya’s departure.

“I thought I clearly rejected your previous offer?”

“I’d like you to know the offer is still valid.”

“…”

“Of course, that’s not why I came today.”

Pamela, who had been arguing with Helena, turned to me with a slight smile.

Of course, knowing her true nature, I could easily see through her fake smile.

“I have a message from Marquis Degrosis. The ship that smoothly rode the wind is sailing well… He asked me to convey his thanks.”

“… It’s not that big of a deal.”

I scratched my head, shrugging off the Marquis’ gratitude conveyed through Pamela.

Really, she’s like a doll.

A doll that speaks for someone… or like a parrot. I smiled bitterly and shook my head. There were more important matters than the two arguing.

“How long are you going to hide there?”

Sylvia, who was blatantly hiding behind a tree, flinched visibly at my words. After taking a breath, her head popped out, drawing everyone’s attention.

Sylvia, seemingly uncomfortable with the attention, hesitated behind the tree for a while before taking a deep breath and stepping out.

“Sylvia…!”

When Helena called her with a face full of joy, she awkwardly smiled and waved her hand slightly.

I was puzzled by Sylvia’s somewhat awkward behavior towards Helena, but thinking it was just because they hadn’t met in a while, I waved back.

“It’s been a while…”

I chuckled at Sylvia’s greeting. After fidgeting for a moment, she gathered herself and walked towards us.

Helena and I welcomed Sylvia warmly after not seeing her for a long time, but only Pamela was looking at her with cold eyes.

…Even in the original story, Pamela didn’t like Sylvia much, so I guess it’s natural.

I brushed it off since I never expected the two to become close anyway. I asked Sylvia, who was chatting with Helena.

“Have you been busy lately?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah… a little…?”

As I tilted my head at Sylvia’s still somewhat awkward behavior, Helena looked at her with a strange gaze.

However, that strange look only lasted for a moment before Helena shook her head and pulled Sylvia into her arms again.

“I missed you…!”

“I missed you too, Helena.”

As Sylvia and Helena hugged each other joyfully like reunited family members, Pamela let out a small sigh and approached me.

“Must be nice to be so popular?”

“…How does that comment even apply to the current situation?”

I chuckled at Pamela, who immediately reverted to her original manner of speaking once she realized Sylvia and Helena weren’t paying attention to her.

Pamela just shook her head, looking at me with cold eyes.

“So what are you thinking?”

“…About what?”

“Are you planning to follow Marquis Degrosis’ words?”

Pamela hates Marquis Degrosis. But regardless of her hatred, she had no choice but to follow his words.

She wanted to vehemently refuse his orders, but she was in no position to do so. Hearing my words, Pamela bit her lower lip hard and turned her head away abruptly.

“…If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”

Seeing her reluctance to speak, I changed the subject. Pamela finally exhaled and looked at me with sullen eyes.

As I chuckled at her expression, I had to turn my gaze as I sensed someone else approaching.

A knight in pure white armor, so holy it seemed to glow, was approaching me.

“Are you Brother Felix and Sister Sylvia?”

“…Yes, we are.”

It was a holy knight from the Church.

My relationship with the Church was ambiguous at the moment. I would be an enemy to the factions supporting Siegfried as the next hero. In contrast, I might be considered a benefactor to those supporting the Saintess.

The Church officially acknowledged Siegfried’s misdeeds and attempted to remove him from the hero position. Still, internally, there was surely much debate.

After all, the goddess herself had appointed him as the hero.

I answered the holy knight’s question with a slightly tense voice, and Sylvia also nodded, looking at him with blank eyes.

After confirming our identities, the holy knight bowed politely and said to us:

“The Saintess has requested your presence. Do you have time?”

‘The Saintess…?’

I couldn’t help but frown at the knight’s words.

Ashillya had already left the academy. Since Siegfried and Jeffrey’s matters weren’t fully resolved, there was no reason for the Saintess to be here either.

By now, she should be busy at the imperial palace.

‘…Is it a trap?’

I briefly thought it might be a trap set by Siegfried’s followers for some drastic measure, but I quickly dismissed that idea.

If they did such a thing, the situation would surely worsen, and doing so within the academy could endanger the entire Church.

“I’ll go.”

“M-me too!”

As I accepted the holy knight’s proposal, Sylvia also followed suit and accepted. Of course, Sylvia must be curious too.

No matter how I thought about it, the Saintess had no particular reason to seek out Sylvia and me.

If we had to specify, it would be that Sylvia and I helped rescue her, but even that wasn’t much. In fact, it was a bit ambiguous to call it help, and it could be said that Ashillya did everything.

And if she thought what we did was helpful to her, there was no reason to only bring the two of us.

Cain and Helena were there too, after all.

Since the current Saintess didn’t appear much in the original story either, I racked my brains endlessly but couldn’t think of anything appropriate.

Ultimately, it meant we had no choice but to face it head-on.

“…I wonder why the Saintess is looking for us?”

“Well, I’m not sure about that either.”

Sylvia, who also seemed to have no idea why the Saint was calling us, had somehow moved close to me and quietly asked.

I answered her question honestly, shrugging my shoulders.

“She won’t eat us, so don’t be too nervous.”

“… That’s not why I’m nervous.”

“Oh really?”

Seeing Sylvia looking visibly tense, I joked, but she desperately denied my words.

Yet, she still couldn’t relax her tense body, which looked quite adorable.

“This way, please.”

As I casually chatted with Sylvia, whom we hadn’t seen in a while, the holy knight who had been silently leading us guided us to a reception room inside the academy.

It seemed that someone of the Saintess’ status could freely use the academy’s reception rooms. Marveling at her position, I calmly stepped inside.

There was a light mist inside the room.

Before I could wonder about the mist indoors, someone from within slowly looked at us and spoke.

“Welcome, brothers and sisters.”

When I met the black eyes looking at us with a faint smile, I naturally realized she was the Saintess.

She had black hair and eyes, but her snow-white glowing skin and kind expression put one at ease just by looking at her. She was sitting in a chair, looking at us.

“We are honored to meet the Saintess of the Holy Country.”

As Sylvia and I naturally bowed to her, she returned the greeting by bowing back and naturally offered us seats.

Carefully sitting down, feeling that even calling her beautiful would be disrespectful due to her holy aura, she smiled faintly and bowed slightly again.

“I am Misa, a humble servant of the Goddess and Her representative.”

As saints don’t typically use surnames, she introduced herself only by her first name. She continued speaking calmly while looking at us.

“I have come to deliver a message from the Goddess to you.”